protector
by wild wolf free17
Summary: Steve's daemon is named Buchiel; Steve calls him Bucky. [canon compliant daemon AU]
1. Chapter 1

Title: protector

Disclaimer: not my characters

Warnings: daemon AU; talk of violence/torture/brainwashing

Pairings: none

Rating: PG  
Wordcount: 6500

Point of view: third

Prompt: Author's choice, any, daemon AU

Note: at A03, I can link to what the daemons are. Here, I'll post it at the very end.

Another note: somewhere in the books, Pullman says it's possible for humans to have human-shaped daemons and that this is known. Here, in my fic, there has never been a human daemon (or, at least, it wasn't recorded) and nobody knows it's a possibility. Also, I don't remember if daemons and humans can communicate telepathically, but here, in this 'verse, they can't. Steve and Bucky, though, can both because of Bucky's form and later due to the serum(s).

Final note: For posting purposes here, I've divided the fic into four chapters of 15 six-sentences (well, there's a 16th drabble in the fourth one because otherwise it'd have been by itself.

* * *

Steve's daemon is named Buchiel; Steve calls him Bucky.

Steve's health is never very good and they both listen to Ma cry about it, Hesiah crooning to her late at night, trying to help her sleep; the way Steve is always getting in fights doesn't much help matters.

So when Bucky says one day, "Steve, I know how to fix this," Steve just asks, "How?"

Bucky takes a deep breath, his wolf cub body swelling with the air – but he _shifts_ in a way Steve's never seen before and he keeps growing, and it's different in a way than that time he was a giraffe.

"Bucky?" Steve asks, close to panicking. "Bucky, what are you doing? Stop, you'll hurt yourself!"

And then there's a boy standing in Steve's tiny little cubby of a room, with dark hair and pale eyes, and he says, "I can protect you, Steve," and the only thing about him that hasn't changed is his voice.

…

"Oh, boys, what have you done?" Ma asks and Hesiah circles Bucky, sniffing at him, demanding, "What do you think you're doing, Buchiel?"

"I'm gonna protect Steve," Bucky says, glaring down at Hesiah while Steve looks up at Ma and says, "I've never seen a human-shaped daemon before."

"We can't let anyone know," Ma says. "It isn't safe."

"Oh, Buchiel," Hesiah says. "Oh, you foolish boy."

.

James Buchanan Barnes is born when Sarah Rogers calls in a favor at the hospital; he is her old friend's son, sent down because his family could no longer support all of their children.

Steve starts carrying a little tin, and even with Bucky following him everywhere, people realize that Steve Rogers' daemon must've settled into something small and shy – which fits him perfectly, people think, that tiny Rogers boy.

…

Bucky never gets hungry or thirsty. He and Steve spend days seeing how far they can get from each other and it frightens them to realize they can be whole blocks from each other before it starts to hurt.

"Is it because I'm this?" Bucky asks, staring down at his hands in fear.

"It doesn't matter," Steve assures him, reaching out for those human hands. "It doesn't matter, Bucky, it's a good thing. We're special."

Bucky's arms go around him, holding him tight, and it's – in any other shape except maybe a monkey, he couldn't do this, and he **knows** it's wrong, but like this, he can fight bullies for Steve, he can get work when he's bigger to help support Ma and Steve, and that is everything.

"I need to start carrying a tin, too," he says, and he doesn't need as much as sleep, so he'll start figuring out this human thing while Steve's resting because he can go whole blocks before it starts to hurt.

…

Bucky goes with Steve to school. As they get older, he finds a job. He misses flying, sometimes, but the first time he's able to finish a fight for Steve instead of just chasing off the daemons, it's worth it.

They never tell anyone, of course, that Bucky is his daemon; they both pretend to have something fragile that needs to be kept safe. Ma is scared all the time now, that someone will find out, will want to experiment on them, and Bucky and Steve both grow to fear doctors.

Daemons know, but even the bullies never say anything – they just all steer clear of him, and Bucky's fine with that.

…

Ma and Hesiah catch tuberculosis and –

And –

Bucky takes care of everything, always touching Steve somehow, and then Steve – he needs to run, so he rushes from the cemetery, feeling their bond stretch and stretch –

And then Bucky is at the foot of the stairs, eyes calm, and he says, "You're not alone, Stevie. You'll never be alone. Don't take all the weight yourself."

"I know, Buck," he says, letting his head hang, his shoulders slump.

Bucky's eyes are warm, his hands, too, and Steve – Steve lets himself break at last because Bucky is there to put him back together.

…

The favor Ma called in is so good that Bucky gets drafted into the army.

Steve panics. Bucky breathes deeply, lets the notice fall, and puts his hands on Steve's shoulders. His hands look so big, so strong, and Steve is so fragile in his grip. Bucky is so big as a human and sometimes it still surprises him.

"It'll be okay, Steve," he promises, and pulls him into a hug when Steve begs, **"How?"**

…

"We can run," Steve suggests one night, after another rejection as Steve Rogers. There are other names – Steve Reynolds, Steve Smith, Steve Williams, each rejected, each not good enough to go with Bucky.

"You'd never forgive yourself," Bucky murmurs from his place behind Steve, legs tucked up against Steve's, arms wrapped around Steve; everywhere they touch echoes in Steve's mind.

"But – we've never been that far from each other," Steve says; his heart stutters beneath Bucky's hand. Bucky's leaving tomorrow for training.

"It'll be fine," Bucky tells him, lips brushing the back of Steve's neck, "I'll be the best damn soldier they've ever seen."

…

In the morning, Steve goes with Bucky to the train station and they shake hands, then hug goodbye. The tin is tucked into Steve's pocket and he squeezes it with shaking fingers as the train pulls away. He has no idea how Bucky – Steve stumbles home and collapses onto the bed, sobbing as the bond stretches and stretches and stretches –

He wakes up to the bond pulsing in his mind and he tries to wrap around it, feeling **Bucky** warm and alive.

_Stevie,_ he hears faintly, _oh, fuck, Stevie, it hurts._

_We can do this, Buck,_ he says, sending all the love and strength he has, _I swear, Buck, we'll survive this_.

…

On his forms, Bucky writes _Samale _and _cricket._ None of his fellow trainees or later his unit ever see her. At night, though, some of them hear him talking to someone he calls _Sammy._

On every new enlistment try, Steve writes _Buchiel_ and s_pider._ He keeps the tin in his pocket and squeezes it till his hand hurts every time he's rejected.

They both sigh in relief when the bond lets them know they're getting closer before the message reaches Steve to let him know Bucky's on the way home.

…

Bucky spends three months in Europe before he begins impressing the brass, who send him home to rest while they decide where to send him to cause the most damage. Crossing the ocean nearly killed him and Steve both, but he was able to cling to their bond, feeling Steve do the same, and he knows they're much stronger, now.

If anyone ever finds out –

"You're talented, Barnes," he hears over and over, and the daemons ignore him, every last one of them, because they **know.**

And then he's back in Brooklyn, arms around Steve, and he breathes in Steve's scent, listens to his heartbeat, tastes his skin as gently as he can, feels his pulse, stares at him from head to toe making sure he hasn't done anything stupid.

"I have two days," he tells Steve when he can bear to pull away.

…

Dr. Erskine says, "Your daemon is not a spider." His otter is shuffling through the file; Steve can't resist looking over at her, but Aviva ignores him.

"Of course he is," Steve lies, fingers around the tin in his pocket.

Kindly, Dr. Erskine lets the conversation move on, and (as best Steve can tell) never mentions it to anyone else.

.

The procedure hurts, of course it hurts, worse than Bucky going across the ocean.

_What the fuck are you doing?!_ he hears so loud and clear – and then warmth shoots through him, erasing the hurt, and he knows they'll survive this.

…

Captain America's daemon is a bald eagle named Fresia. Fresia is actually Frederick, and the daemon of one of the USO girls but Fred and Sophie are both willing to do their part, even though Steve apologizes every time. Sophie pats his shoulder and tells him, "You're a good kid, Steve."

Once, when Steve is walking back to Sophie's room with Fred soaring above him, Steve says, _I miss you, jerk_, and he hears Bucky's distant laugh.

.

"Shouldn't you be waiting with Steve?" Sophie asks Fred while Angie is shouting about her missing helmet.

Fred snickers and preens her hair.

…

The daemons are herded into different pens. The tin is pulled out of Bucky's hands and thrown into the corner; he shudders and cries out because he knows a human would have. The men are shouting and so are the daemons, and Bucky has never been so scared in his life, not even when he finally settled.

"We'll be fine, kid," Dugan tells him, getting in-between the guards and Bucky; Dugan's Fiona is howling the loudest of all the daemons, blistering the air with filth.

Bucky really doesn't believe anything will be fine at all.

…

Steve's in the middle of a performance when he feels the bolt of pain run up his spine, but he just gets the smallest hint before it's all gone, locked away.

It's not his pain. It's Bucky's. And Bucky doesn't want him to feel it because he still thinks it's his job to protect Steve.

He stumbles but looks at the audience and powers through it.

If Bucky's hurt, that means he's alive.

…

Phillips tells him Bucky's probably dead and Steve knows he isn't. Steve jumps out of plane, breaks into a Hydra factory, frees every prisoner on his way to Bucky.

_I'm coming I'm here Bucky I'm here hold on I'm almost there Bucky,_ he shouts as loud as he can, and there's barely even a mumbling reply because whatever's wrong, it's **bad**.

And then he's looking at Bucky, bloody and bruised and strapped to a table with a needle array held above it, and Bucky's just looking at him, eyes blank –

_"Stevie?"_ he murmurs, and it echoes inside Steve, and then his hands are on Bucky, and Bucky's stumbling against him, and, "Stevie, what're you doin' here?"

"Oh, god, Bucky," Steve says, shoving everything down because he can't break, not here, not now. "C'mon, we gotta go."


	2. Chapter 2

History does not know much about James Buchanan Barnes.

Biographies about Captain America mention him during the chapter on Steve Rogers' childhood – Barnes just shows up in 1927 as the son of Sarah Rogers' friend but there is little else about him. It is universally decided he must be an illegitimate son discarded to conserve resources and so Sarah Rogers took him in because Captain America's mother was a saint.

History does know that Barnes was a gifted soldier, an extremely talented sniper with a record kill count, quite the charmer, and had a Spotted Camel cricket named Samale as a daemon.

(History is written so that Captain America's first mission was sanctioned, and history does not record that Captain America went on a rampage of revenge after Barnes fell. And history does not mention that it seemed like part of Steve Rogers' soul died with Barnes.)

…

Of course, neither Fresia nor Fred accompanies Steve on his missions with the Commandos. The propaganda machine works wonders, though, because there is always a bald eagle daemon ready for pictures and to perch majestically on his shoulder during interviews.

Bucky is always at his shoulder, too, tin tucked into his pocket, and keeping things light by joking, even when there's dirt and blood under his nails, and Steve wants to wrap them both up in blankets somewhere away from battle and death but he can't, he can't, he **can't.**

Today, Bucky lets the interview get almost to the end before interrupting with that charmer's grin, "Can you believe this lunkhead's my friend?" he asks the cameraman.

The journalist glares at him but the cameraman actually laughs, and so do the surrounding men.

More importantly, though, so does Steve.

…

After the Commandoes are formed, Dum Dum notices that Bucky never talks to Sammy again; he never asks because Fiona tells him it's not his business and curls up beside Bucky sometimes, even though it should be taboo.

Sometimes, Gabe thinks that something's not quite right between Sarge and Cap, but Vesta tells him it's not his concern and he knows they're both the best men he's ever known so he decides to ignore it.

Jacques asks Aurore once, "Have you ever spoken to Buchiel or Samale?" because though they have never seen Steve and Bucky's daemons, they know their names; Aurore laughs at him.

Jim notices that sometimes Yuki perches on Sarge's shoulder but he also remembers watching Sarge get dragged away to the isolation ward so he never makes a fuss about it.

Once, Betsy tells Monty that Barnes is _such a poor boy_ but when he tries to gather further information, she turns away.

After Steve follows Bucky down, the boys toast Steve, Bucky, Buchiel, and Samale; Fiona, Vesta, Aurore, Yuki, and Betsy spend the night curled up together and whispering about what a silly daemon Buchiel had been, but, "I'll miss him," Fiona admits, and the rest all agree that the world's a little dimmer with him and his human gone.

…

Bucky falls. _Don't you dare, Stevie, don't you dare_, he shouts as loudly as he can, and Steve –

Steve doesn't jump after him.

He never forgives himself.

.

Part of Steve never believes Bucky faded into Dust.

When the mask falls off the Winter Soldier, he has new reasons to hate himself.

…

_Steve? Stevie?_

Everything hurts and he's cold and the bond –

_Stevie!_

He tries following it to Steve but Steve isn't –

_... Steve?_

There's nothing but pain and blood on the snow (how is he bleeding? he shouldn't be bleeding) and cold cold cold.

…

It comes out, of course, that Captain America's daemon was not actually a bald eagle named Fresia. The propaganda falls apart when Timothy Dugan is asked about the Captain's daemon, if he has any stories he can share, and his bulldog daemon Fiona snorts.

Dugan says, "No, I ain't got no stories about Fresia the bald eagle because she never existed. Steve's daemon was Buchiel and he was awful protective of the little guy." Dugan shrugs. "All I know is that he was a spider."

"A grass spider," Fiona adds, looking up at Dugan. "And he was nice."

…

The asset is a most efficient tool: it never hungers, thirsts, tires, malfunctions due to pain (the asset does not feel pain).

The asset has no daemon; the asset has no soul. Daemons flinch from the asset; humans stare in horror, not only because it is their death come.

_("Sergeant Barnes, where is your daemon?" Cold hands on his face, turning his head, down his body – he cringed back and back and back. "Interesting," the little doctor said.)_

…

"You have known something since we first acquired the asset," Arnim tells Amalyn.

The asset is his masterpiece, his finest work, and that Amalyn would keep secrets this far – they have had the asset for twenty years, now. No other has ever survived the process, though there are offshoot programs, like Karpov's Red Room; in the coming months, Arnim will even allow Karpov to borrow the asset to train his own subjects.

"There are human things, Arnim," Amalyn says softly, "and those I would tell you. But daemon things are not for human ears."

"Every daemon knows, then?" he asks.

Her silence is his answer, and had anyone else said such a thing, he would act on his curiosity – but she is his soul and so he will continue on with his work (and if part of him wonders how every daemon would keep silent – he is a human, and he has experiments to run.)

…

While Howard is busy at work, Maria gives birth to their son Anthony. Peggy, Morita, Jones, and Dugan are in the waiting room. Their daemons are all in the corner, and while Peggy is maddeningly curious, she stays with the boys. Dugan is one of hers, but Morita and Jones have moved on with their lives. So they catch up while waiting to hear about Maria and the child's health.

She doesn't hear Harold say, "Steve and Buchiel should be here," or the stories Harold, Yuki, Vesta, and Fiona tell about the stupid things those silly boys did, and how there really is no way they should've survived as long as they had.

…

There is no daemon curled up frozen in Captain America's grip or in the tin found next to him.

The experts decide that means his daemon died, that Captain America must've gotten close enough to dying to count.

They offer him counseling and he refuses.

Malaya tells Nick, "Something's not right here."

"Yeah," he says, "I figured."

Steve Rogers is obviously depressed and has a massive case of PTSD for multiple things – but he doesn't act like someone whose daemon is dead.

…

He wakes up and thinks for a second he feels Bucky.

He wakes up and he calls through the bond, _Bucky? Are you there?_

There is no answer. Of course there's not – Bucky's dead. It's seventy years later, they tell him.

Bucky died 70 years ago.

…

Sometimes, the asset hears things. It mentions the sound only once; the maintenance for the malfunction teaches it that such things should not be shared, even if an obedient asset should always present itself for maintenance.

The asset hears _Bucky_ and _oh god I'm sorry_ and _I miss you_.

The asset ignores the sounds; the words are meaningless.

It wonders, sometimes, what _Bucky_ is – the use makes the word seem to be a name.

Once, the asset hears _Buchiel_ \- but the chamber is prepped and the cold comes and the asset does not remember, after (not for a long long time).

…

The asset is in the kitchen when Casimira pads in. Alex is upstairs changing into his house-clothes so Casimira decides this is her chance; she understands Alex's mission, and is fully supportive – **but.**

"I know what you are," she tells the asset, nudging at his knee with her nose.

Of course he does not reply, just stares down at her with those blank eyes.

"I'm sorry," she adds, because some things must be borne for all that they are terrible beyond reckoning.

She takes comfort in knowing he will be allowed his rest once Project Insight is applied.

…

_"Bucky?"_

"Who the hell is Bucky?" … _Steve?_

.

"The whole thing," Steve says, more furious than he's ever been, cold with it, utter certain that he could kill every single Hydra agent with his bare hands, "it's all going. I don't care what it takes."

"I didn't know about Barnes," Fury says, and Steve – believes him, mostly. The thing is, Steve should've known, and he didn't.

_Bucky?_ he calls, and the only reply is a distant cry.

…

_"Bucky?"_

"Who the hell is Bucky?"i… _Steve?_

.

The asset… _I know him?_ the asset thinks, ignoring the techs and handlers and guards. _I know him_.

The handler speaks and the asset does not listen.

The asset is wiped – but it hears _Bucky?_ and it clings as tightly as it can to the sound, the barest warmth that wells up, it clings and clings and clings – and with a cry, it lets go because it can't hold on anymore.

…


	3. Chapter 3

Bucky fights brutally, and Steve does what he can to not hurt him while also trying to complete the mission before the helicarriers launch.

"Bucky," he shouts, "please, we don't have to do this! You're my daemon!"

Bucky doesn't respond, just punches and kicks and stabs and shoots, and Steve has to dislocate his arm, choke him out, and it aches, it's **killing** him, and he knows as he tells Hill to fire that he can't hurt Bucky anymore even if it kills them both – which it will, if Bucky succeeds.

He pulls the helmet off, tears the gloves off his hands, and tells Bucky, "I'm your human. I'm not gonna fight you."

Bucky slams him into the floor, hits him and hits him and hits him, and Steve tells him, "You're not alone, you're not alone, _Buchiel."_

…

The target – the asset's flesh hand touches his neck and the target's voice in the asset's head _iBuchiel/i_ and – and –

The target falls.

Asset does not know - _You're not alone, Buchiel, you're my daemon, Bucky_.

Asset lets go and drags the target out of the water.

_I'm your human - you're my daemon_.

Asset bends to touch the target's cheek with the metal not-hand and feels nothing, but the flesh arm is malfunctioning and so cannot be used; it stands back up and trudges away because it must - there is much intel to synthesize.

…

Maria fires, Vin on her shoulder murmuring, "We have to, we have to, we have to," and then she moves on to the next part of the plan because Cap is **right:** nothing can be salvaged here. Romanova shoved about a third of the secrets out into the light for all the world to see, but there is so much more.

She pauses, finger on the trigger for a gun that will wipe out decades of intel, and Vin says, "We **have** to."

"We didn't hear what we heard," Maria tells him, pressing the button to release the virus that will eat every cyber file SHIELD ever made.

She knows that Nick and Romanova had other things to focus on, that Wilson's attention was all on his fight – so this is another secret she'll keep. Chances are that Cap and the Winter Soldier are both dead in the wreckage still crashing down, and she reaches up to caress Vin's back, thinking it'd a kindness if they were.

…

"On your left," Sam hears, and he looks over at the same time Galen does, and Sam knows the same expression is on both their faces.

"You're goddamned ridiculous," Sam tells the idiot; Steve just grins at him, even though he looks beat all to hell and should be dead.

Seriously. Steve's injuries were so fucking extensive – "Breathe," Galen tells him, nudging his arm with a paw.

"I'm breathin'," he says, leaning back in the chair.

So is Steve, even though – there were footprints, leading away from Steve, and Sam knows what that has to mean.

…

"Clint!" Natasha shouts at the same time Boris howls "Missy!"

Clint's on the ground and bloody, and Missy is standing over him, braying her rage, fighting off three daemons – two kinds of cats and a bird. The humans just stand back and watch, though they turn to point guns at her and Boris.

By then, it's too late because she and Boris no longer abide by the understood rule of daemons not touching humans: Natasha guts one of the men with a knife while Boris goes for another's throat, and Natasha spins to gut the one remaining while Boris launches onto his back, bringing him down hard. With the enemy either dead or dying, they hurry to Missy, who snaps at Natasha before calming enough to recognize her.

"What kept you?" Missy demands, carefully moving one single step away, and Natasha says, "We were busy tearing down SHIELD because it's been fucking Hydra the whole time."

…

"Okay, so with Cap and his invisible demon and winged friend with Timon as his soul off on their Popsicle vengeance world tour, what should we do to help?" Tony asks. Ukiah is directing Dummy in mopping up a spill Bruce decides not to care about.

Lenea waddles over to help, flaring her wings at You to keep him from spreading the – whatever that spilled.

"Well," Bruce says after tearing his gaze away from the hilarity of a swan and goose ordering robots around, "I suppose we could come up with plans to help rehabilitate Steve's friend?"

"You mean the one that killed my parents?" Tony asks, voice entirely too even.

Bruce meets Lenea's gaze as she twists her neck around, checking on him. "Yeah," he says, "that one."

…

"Yo, Steve!" Sam shouts, swooping down to grab Galen as he jumps up, and then tucking Galen's tiny body into the specially designed pouch on his side (because Steve has the coolest friends, fucking Tony Stark on speed dial!).

"What, Sam?" Steve shouts back, dodging about eighteen bullets at once and flinging the shield in that magical way that takes out every bad guy in sight.

"This seems to have been a bad plan!" Sam tells him, dodging a fucking tank shell.

"It's all under control!" Steve assures him, but Sam quit believing half of what he said about nine countries ago because Steve doesn't understand normal people limits.

More bad guys stream out of the base and this is where Natasha would be handy but she's somewhere doing something and Sam knows he's not enough.

"Steve, we should retreat!" he shouts, picking off the ones he can and dodging when Galen says, and then something clips his right wing and he's falling –

…

By the second day, the asset's arm has fully healed as have the rest of its malfunctions. Also, it has begun wondering if perhaps it should call itself Bucky, and perhaps use male pronouns. It doesn't like being an it.

It thinks it might have been a man once, but that still doesn't feel quite right. According to the museum exhibit and the library books and the internet, Captain America Steve Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes were best friends and brothers, and Captain America's daemon was a spider named Buchiel.

He knows he was James Buchanan Barnes – but he thinks Buchiel might have been him, too.

…

He dreams of changing shapes, of flying, of falling, of seeing Steve bleed and choosing a form that meant he could keep it from happening again. He dreams of fear and rage and pain and pain and pain, of cold and hate.

He dreams of making Steve bleed and wakes crying for the first time (he can remember) since he fell.

The bond is still there, pulsing in the back of his mind. He realizes now that it has always been there but buried and forgotten (stolen), and that he had no idea what it was for… for so long.

Steve, the goddamned idiot of a punk, is somewhere in the world doing something stupid, and if Buchiel follows the bond –

…

Sam falls. Steve only knows he's been hit when he hears Galen screaming, "Sam!" and turns, getting clipped himself by bullets.

The bond explodes in his mind at the same time Sam hits the ground and then Bucky is among the shooters, dropping from – the roof? Steve has no idea, and he has to choose between seeing if Sam's alive (he must be, Galen is still screaming at him to wake up) and helping Bucky.

"Get the fuck out of sight, Steve!" Bucky orders, breaking a man's neck with his metal hand and kicking another into a wall so hard he goes through it.

There must've been something on the bullets because everything's woozy, but the bond, the bond is so warm, and it's **back,** he can feel Bucky again, every part of him, and it's good, it's the best thing ever, and he sinks down – maybe he can just fall into the bond and be warm and with Bucky forever…

…

Buchiel leaves one of them alive to question but executes the rest immediately after Steve goes down. The survivor cowers away as Buchiel grabs him by the throat and drags him to Steve's unconscious body, his housecat daemon crying behind them. "What is on the bullets?" he demands.

Wilson's daemon is still screeching.

"I – I don't know!" the man blubbers.

Buchiel believes him so he crushes his throat and tosses him aside.

…

With them as deadweight, Buchiel cannot get both Wilson and Steve to his closest safehouse. He is tempted to leave Wilson but knows that Steve would be disappointed and furious. Steve must have some way of contacting his team (Stark, Romanova the Black Widow) but a quick check of his clothes reveals nothing.

"Wilson," he calls to the daemon, "is there a communicator?"

The meerkat hurries to him and says, "They left it in the room."

"Of course they did," he sighs; then, glancing back at the dead bodies, "Do you know the phone number?"

…

"Sir," Jarvis says, interrupting Tony's argument with Ukiah about whether the Stargate movie or TV show had worse science, "Sergeant James Barnes is calling."

"I'll take it," Tony says, and then, "Yo, Popsicle, how'd you get this number?"

"Galen," Captain America's childhood friend says firmly, like Tony has any idea who that is. "We need extraction immediately. Wilson has a possible spinal injury and Steve's been hit with some sort of toxin that took him down in less than a minute."

"What'd you do to them?" Tony demands, watching Jarvis' trace run.

"I saved their lives," Barnes says.

…

Stark in the Iron Man armor, an unassuming man that every single instinct in Buchiel's body says to flee from, Romanova the Black Widow, Barton the Hawkeye, three SHIELD agents, and all of their daemons surge off the transport and surround Buchiel, Steve, Wilson, and Galen.

They all notice that Galen is on Buchiel's shoulder, clinging to his hair, at the same time.

"Let's just take a deep breath," the unassuming man says. "Barnes, I'm going to step forward, okay?"

Every part of Buchiel demands he defend Steve but he doesn't know what poison is in him, or when it's going to start impacting him, too. "Help him," he says, and then he slowly reaches up for Galen, sets the meerkat on the ground, launches himself over the SHIELD agents, and vanishes into the night.

…

Wilson's got a broken arm and bruised ribs; Cap's got an unknown toxin in his bloodstream that keeps him out of it for the better part of three days before the serum finally takes care of it.

Rogers wakes up shouting for Bucky. Absolutely no one is surprised. The next thing he demands is if anyone hurt him, and the sheer rage on his face has Tony's favorite (and the only one he likes) doctor stepping back, hands raised.

"No one hurt your boyfriend, Cap," Tony tells him, "dude booked it away."

Cap's rage morphs into panic.


	4. Chapter 4

Bucky is somewhere in the world hurt and afraid; Steve can feel it.

"Cap, what are you doing?" Sam asks from his spot in the visitor's chair as Steve sits up and swings his legs off the bed.

"I'm going find Bucky," he says.

"I'm pretty sure he found us," Sam says. "Granted, I don't remember it, but the fact that we're not dead kinda proves it."

Bucky is somewhere in the world alone and hurt and afraid, and that is - _Bucky,_ he begs, _Bucky, please, let me find you_.

…

Galen meets Boris' eyes and they both look away. Missy, Ukiah, and Lenea won't say anything because it's – it's not for humans to know. And Boris has broken every taboo but this.

But - he has mere minutes of data to go on with Barnes; there is much he can guess but cannot be sure of.

Natasha and Sam are discussing how to keep Steve alive on this second quest of his and Galen rushes across the room to stop at Steve's feet

"Steve," he says, "you need to tell them about Buchiel."

…

Buchiel can remember decades of pain and is thankful to have memories at all.

He has very few memories of being Bucky but knows that he was, once. He is Buchiel, daemon of Steve Rogers, and he is Bucky, Steve Rogers' brother and best friend.

He knows that he can unlock the bond, can let Steve find him – but what will be done with him, then? He is a daemon but has killed hundreds of humans. There is no law against it… but laws mean little, when there is so much blood.

…

Steve flinches back, eyes widening in panic. "Galen!" Sam says, shocked beyond belief.

"Buchiel?" Natasha asks. Of course everyone knows about Steve's daemon, who faded to Dust when Steve froze; even she's avoided the topic though she's shattered every other taboo.

Galen stands up straight, looking Steve in the eye. "Tell them about Bucky Barnes."

…

He has spent seventy years without his human.

Bucky dives into the bond and whispers, _Steve? I'm so cold. It hurts. Please… can I come home?_

_Oh, god, Bucky_, Steve replies immediately, _I'm coming to you. Just… I'll be there soon._

It's quiet, this hole he's found. He curls up like when they were children and small, and clings to Steve, just saying whatever comes to mind, no matter how painful or bloody because he can't be quiet again, can't let himself fall again, can't –

_I'm coming, Bucky_, Steve promises, and Bucky has to believe he will this time.

…

Steve's face blanks completely and every daemon in the room whines. The humans hurry over to their daemons but Steve doesn't move.

"Steve?" Sam calls softly, narrowing his eyes at the tears rolling down Steve's face.

"I have to go," Steve says, and the look on his face – he focuses on Galen. "Tell them or don't. But I'm going right now."

Clint is between him and the door; Steve just tilts his head, face still blank of all expression, but there are still tears, and it is perhaps the scariest thing Sam has ever seen, so he completely understands when Clint holds up his hands and steps aside, Missy beside him.

…

"Okay, Galen," Sam says, kneeling down to scoop his daemon up with his good arm, "why don't you tell us what that was about?"

Boris whimpers, pressing against Natasha's legs, and she crouches down to hold him. The rest of the daemons remain silent, though each pressed into their humans.

"Buchiel is Bucky Barnes," Galen whispers into Sam's chest.

"That's impossible," Stark says flatly, arms around Ukiah.

"No, it's not," Leana murmurs, head tilted to look at Banner.

…

Steve has no idea where Bucky is, but he knows the direction to go. He buys a plane ticket, flies across an ocean, rents a car, and then rushes across a city, following Bucky's rambling.

He finds Bucky wedged into the tiniest space possible in a dilapidated house.

_"Bucky,"_ he calls before approaching, even though every single part of him wants to curl around his daemon and never ever let go.

_Steve?_ Bucky says, lifting his head from his knees.

_I'm here_, Steve says, choking down the sob.

…

Natasha's first thought is, How did I miss that? Her second is, Holy fuck, it explains so much.

"Oh, holy** fuck**," Clint says, "That is fucked up."

Stark is shuddering and Ukiah's wings reach up to brush his shoulders. Banner's eyes flick green and Natasha tenses, but he forces it back down and touches Leana.

Sam inhales, exhales, inhales, exhales, and then says, "Everyone get control of yourself because we've got a shit-ton of work to do."

…

"Steve?" Bucky's looking at him, face all crumpled and tired, and Steve can't – he lets himself fall to his knees and then knee-walks over because he doesn't want to trigger a panic by being so much bigger.

"Steve," Bucky says, unwrapping his arms from around his legs and reaching out.

"Bucky," Steve says, "Bucky, Buchiel, Bucky." He grabs Bucky's hand and his other arm goes around Bucky's back, and he rests his head on Bucky's shoulder, and they're cheek to cheek, holding hands, flesh on flesh –

Everywhere they're touching echoes and Steve feels the bond healing, warmth suffusing him, and he sobs in relief.

…

It takes hours till they're both cried out. They fall asleep curled in the corner together, hands clutching, legs tucked up against each other, heartbeats echoing in their minds.

Bucky wakes up begging; Steve wakes up shouting.

But they're together, so they both calm quickly, and then Steve asks, _What do you want to do, Bucky?_

_I want to rest,_ Bucky says.

Steve says, _Okay. Then we'll find somewhere for you to rest_.

…

Thanks to Baby Jesus and all the saints, Steve took his phone with him. So while Stark is arranging things and Natasha's researching daemonology with Banner, Sam sends Steve a novella promising him that it's safe to bring Bar-**Buchiel** home, that they'll all keep him safe, give him whatever he needs, _just, please, man_, he begs, _don't go to ground, I swear to you we've got this, we're on yours and Buchiel's side, please come back_.

Steve doesn't reply for three days.

When he does, it's pretty goddamned terrifying, but Sam asks around and everyone agrees that they're okay with it.

_If anyone tries to hurt Bucky or lock him away or even THINK the word experiment, I will tear them apart._

_That's fine, man_, Sam texts back, _just come home._

…

After Steve and Buchiel get back, neither one of them leave Steve's floor for eight days, and then it's Steve, who asks Jarvis to have everyone gather in the common floor's kitchen.

"I need to know," Steve says, meeting every human's and every daemon's gaze, "right now, if any of you have any problem with Bucky. Because if you do and you take it out on him –" He clenches his jaw and exhales slowly. "I need to know. Right now."

Natasha shakes her head first even as her hand drifts to her side, saying, "My problem is with the Winter Soldier. And the Winter Soldier is dead. Isn't he?"

It's a very long moment before Steve nods, saying, "Yes, the Winter Soldier's gone."

…

"I don't, Ukiah, I want –" Tony mutters, slamming things around his lab just to hear the discordant sound.

"The Winter Soldier was a gun, Tony," Ukiah says, "and I'm – I'm so pissed about Mama and Dad, about Rhiannon and Lucinda, but I'm angry at Hydra, at Obie. Not at Buchiel."

"I don't know if I can, can compartmentalize like that," Tony confesses, sliding to the floor.

"Then we have to tell Steve," Ukiah says, resting his head on Tony's shoulder.

Tony got blown up by his own weapons once, and he never blamed them. It's not the gun or the knife, it's the hand that wields it, so – "I'll avoid Buchiel for a while, 'til I'm sure I've got a handle on it," Tony mumbles, letting his head thunk back against the wall.

…

It's the daemons he interacts with first – he remembers Fiona and Yuki, Vesta and Betsy, Aurore and Harold, the siblings he'd never had. He remembers how they scolded him for stupid risks, comforted him when Steve was hurt, played with him when they could. They'd known what he was because daemons always did, but they'd accepted his shape and let him know it was perfectly fine. Not even Hesiah had fully done that.

So he stealthily steals through Stark's tower hunting for Galen, and he finds him with the donkey and a pack of markers, and when he snorts, the donkey blurts, "This isn't what it looks like!", moving forward to hide the wall.

"Wilson," he says, striding forward, "I'll take the green," and Galen laughs, and the donkey ("Missy," she says, "Missy Barton, and don't you forget it,) shouts, "That's what I'm talkin' about!" as Bucky draws the silliest things he can think of, grinning like he hasn't since – since before James Buchanan Barnes got drafted, decades and lifetimes ago.

…

Every night, curled around Bucky or in Bucky's arms, Steve asks, _Are you happy?_

Sometimes, he says _Yes_ immediately. Sometimes, he has to think about it.

Every night, he asks back, _Are **you** happy?_ and Steve says, _Yeah._

_Go to sleep, ya punk,_ Bucky says, his metal hand over Steve's heartbeat.

_You first, jerk_, Steve laughs, tilting his head so that his ear is up against Bucky's throat, right where his pulse thunders away.


	5. daemon list

Dum Dum Dugan – Fiona, American bulldog

Gabe Jones – Vesta, serval

Jacques Dernier – Aurore, gray partridge

Jim Morita – Yuki, American Bittern

Monty Falsworth – Betsy, roe deer

Arnim Zola – Amalyn, Alpine marmot

Abraham Erksine – Aviva, European otter

Sarah Rogers - Hesiah, Irish Setter

Peggy Carter – Harold, clouded leopard

Howard Stark - Lucinda, raccoon

Maria Stark – Rhiannon, robin

Tony Stark – Ukiah, swan

Sam Wilson – Galen, meerkat

Natasha Romanoff – Boris, African wild dog

Clint Barton – Missy, donkey

Bruce Banner – Lenea, Canadian goose

Nick Fury – Malaya, scorpion

Alexander Pierce – Casimira, Irish Setter

Maria Hill – Vicenzo (Vin), least weasel


End file.
